mitch mcconnell has something out there from the middle of 2011 that's a potential compromise, where you don't have the fight about the debt ceiling every time the president proposes it. congress can with 2/3 override it and the republicans can maybe say they're not happy with the progress or maybe you have triggers along the way so you don't have the debt ceiling fight every time as long as the expense agreement cuts that have been reached are hit along the way. there's a potential compromise on that one as well. it's a very important topic and it's not going to get done if both side don't walk away. >> neither side can do this by themselves. >> no. >> both of them can go over the cliff. >> but neither side can reach an agreement. >> with real consequence. >> i know. but even howard dean said we might have a recession, but it would be worth it because we'd finally clear the debt. >> i'd like to see some real math. "the washington post" laid out that tim geithner i think is a great guy, but $44 billion in his savings that he found was just because they pushed a payment out at the end